Prehistoric whale fossils emerge from Chile desert

Eva Vergara and Ian James, Associated Press

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, December 4, 2011

Photo: Canal 24 Horas Video, AP

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ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, NOV. 20, 2011 AND THEREAFTER - In this image made from video taken on Nov 11, 2011, Minister of National Assets Catalina Parot, using crutches, looks at a prehistoric whale fossil unearthed in the Atacama desert near Copiapo, Chile. More than 2 million years ago, scores of whales congregating off the Pacific Coast of South America mysteriously met their end. Maybe they became disoriented and beached themselves. Maybe they were trapped in a lagoon by a landslide or a ferocious storm. Maybe they died there over a period of a few millennia. But somehow, they ended up right next to one another, many just several yards (meters) apart, entombed over the ages as the shallow sea floor was driven upward by geologic forces and transformed into the driest place on the planet. Today, the whales have emerged again atop a desert hill more than half a mile (a kilometer) from the surf, where researchers have begun to unearth one of the world's best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales. (AP Photo/Canal 24 Horas Video)
Ran on: 12-04-2011
In a video image, Chile Minister of National Assets Catalina Parot (in white) looks over a whale fossil. less

ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, NOV. 20, 2011 AND THEREAFTER - In this image made from video taken on Nov 11, 2011, Minister of National Assets Catalina Parot, using crutches, looks at a prehistoric whale fossil ... more

Photo: Canal 24 Horas Video, AP

Prehistoric whale fossils emerge from Chile desert

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Santiago, Chile --

More than 2 million years ago, scores of whales congregating off the Pacific Coast of South America mysteriously met their end.

Maybe they became disoriented and beached themselves. Maybe they were trapped in a lagoon by a landslide or a storm. Maybe they died there over a period of a few millennia. But somehow, they ended up right next to one another, many just yards apart, entombed as the shallow sea floor was driven upward by geological forces and transformed into the driest place on the planet.

Today, they have emerged again atop a desert hill more than half a mile from the surf, where researchers have begun to unearth one of the world's best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales.

Chilean scientists together with researchers from the Smithsonian Institution are studying how these whales, many the size of buses, wound up in the same corner of the Atacama Desert.

"That's the top question," said Mario Suarez, director of the Paleontological Museum in the nearby town of Caldera, about 440 miles north of Santiago, the Chilean capital.

Experts say other groups of prehistoric whales have been found together in Peru and Egypt, but the Chilean fossils stand out for their staggering number and beautifully preserved bones. More than 75 whales have been discovered so far - including more than 20 perfectly intact skeletons.

They provide a snapshot of sea life at the time, and even include what might have been a family group: two adult whales with a juvenile between them.

"The fossils are exceptionally well preserved and quite complete - a rare combination in paleontology and one that will likely shed light on many facets of the ... ecology and evolution of these extinct species," Fitzgerald said.

He said it's possible "these fossilized remains may have accumulated over a relatively long period of time."

Hans Thewissen, an expert on early whales, agreed. Another scenario, he said, is that the whales might have gathered in a lagoon and then an earthquake or storm could have closed off the outlet to the ocean.

"Subsequently the lagoon dries up and the whales die," said Thewissen, a professor of anatomy at Northeast Ohio Medical University. He said the accumulation of so many complete skeletons is "a very unusual situation."

"If this were a lagoon that dried up, you might see signs that ocean water evaporated," such as crystallized salt and gypsum in the rock, said Thewissen, who is not involved in the research. "On the other hand, if a giant wave or storm flung the whales onto shore, it would also have pushed the ocean floor around, and you would see scour marks in the rocks."

Dating fossils is complicated, experts said, and it will be very hard to distinguish dates precisely enough to determine whether the whales died simultaneously.

The researchers have been told to finish their on-site studies so that fossils can be moved out of the path of the widened Pan American Highway, or Route 5, which is Chile's main north-south road.

Many of the fossils have been transported in plaster coverings to the museum in Caldera. Researchers from Chile's National Museum of Natural History are also studying the fossils.

Pyenson and his team are working quickly under tents to document the intact skeletons. With funding from the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian team is using sophisticated photography and laser scanners to capture 3D images of the whales that can later be used to make life-sized models.

Suarez, the paleontologist, had long known about the whale bones just north of Caldera - they could be seen jutting out of the sandstone ridge alongside the highway at the spot known as Cerro Ballena, or Whale Hill. When the road work began last year, the construction company asked him to monitor the job to avoid destroying fossils.

"In the first week, about six or seven whales appeared," Suarez said. "We realized that it was a truly extraordinary site."

The Chilean government has declared the site a protected zone, and Pyenson said he hopes a museum will be built to showcase the intact skeletons where they lie, in the same way fossils are displayed at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado.

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